Alex Clarkson: Why village post offices matter

Alex Clarkson is Councillor for Borehamwood Hillside on Hertsmere Borough Council and is also Deputy Chairman of Hertsmere Conservative Association. He stood in Stevenage at the last General Election. He is a Founder Member of Conservatives Together and is the Vice-Chairman (Outreach) of LGBT+ Conservatives.  

I don’t know what it is, but I have always had a soft spot for village post offices. Maybe it was going down to my local one, before it was shut by the Blair government, to pick up my First Day Cover. Yes, philately anorak alert.

Maybe it is the fact that as an actor I voiced several male characters in Postman Pat: Special Delivery Service, still shown on CBBC most weekday mornings, with our hero Pat souped up for the 21st century now armed with a lorry, motorbike and helicopter.

Or maybe it is because village post offices are exactly what they appear to be. They are a quintessential part of British rural life. They are community hubs where villagers and passers-by do not just post letters or parcels, but natter in the queue and connect with one another, perhaps picking up some stationery or a Mother’s Day card just in time.

Now from experience voicing so many episodes, I can tell you that the goings-on in Mrs Goggins’ post office in the fictitious Cumbrian village of Greendale make an Eastenders Christmas special pale into insignificance. Unlike our much loved animation though, the realities of this Starmer government, with its 18 U-turns, higher taxes, higher borrowing and general chaos, means we are in a Greendale-like emergency, but with no Postman Pat to sort it out!

Labour’s threat to rural post offices

Ironically, one of the more monstrous proposals appeared in a Green Paper published last summer. It suggested abolishing the minimum number of 11,500 post offices nationwide introduced in 2010 by David Cameron, scrapping the Three Mile Rule that ensures 99 per cent of the population lives within three miles of a post office, and phasing out part time, mobile, or outreach branches that typically serve rural communities.

For our villages and small towns this would have been devastating. Post offices are often the last remaining public service in Hertfordshire’s rural communities.

The campaign in North East Hertfordshire

Credit to CCHQ and the Campaign Toolkit team. They were ahead of the curve from the outset, with leaflet and survey templates appearing in their own sub-section of the website within weeks of the Green Paper announcement.

Some Conservative members in our patch initially told us the issue was exaggerated and might generate complaints. It is right to be cautious yes, but once we showed them proof of the Green Paper announcement (which had of course been buried deep under other news announcements at the time), they got behind us. Meanwhile local Liberal Democrats went ballistic on the inevitable Facebook groups. Apparently, they believe they are the only party allowed to campaign on local issues!

But off we went last August, campaigning to save four village post offices in a corner of North East Hertfordshire. These are Greendale-style villages connected by winding country lanes and narrow rural roads, with cottages, village greens and small high streets where the post office still sits at the heart of the community.

These branches could easily have closed, forcing pensioners and residents to travel into Stevenage by bus simply to access basic services.

Listening on the doorstep

Using the ‘Knock, Drop & Collect’ system, dropping off an easy-to-use survey and returning in 20 minutes to collect it, we heard repeatedly how vital these post offices were. Residents told us they had helped keep villages connected during the pandemic. They explained how they allowed pensioners to manage their bank accounts after local bank branches closed. Two of them even offered to do social media videos for us illustrating these points, which of course we gladly accepted.

The key point is that we heard this directly, and residents felt heard.

We did not simply write a few bullet points on a leaflet and push it through doors, or post a graphic on Facebook. Using the knock, drop and collect model, we spoke to people directly.

The result was that we learned the issues first hand and, more importantly, voters saw us listening rather than simply asking for their vote. We received hundreds of voter intentions, and using the 0-10 system too rather than the old-fashioned (and largely useless) canvass letter code.

Bearing in mind this was territory that had not been canvassed for a while. With its council elections ‘all out’ rather than up ‘in thirds’, elections come once every four years with not much else happening in-between. These were villages that had been blue since time immemorial but were now either fair game for Reform or were already ensnared by the ‘Japanese knotweed’ that is the Liberal Democrats.

Now there is bang on up to date canvass data – these villages are campaign ready for a future local or General Election.

Unexpected campaigning bonuses

Two unexpected things happened.

First, a huge number of residents who were not home when we knocked, used the QR code to complete the survey online, or even sent the form back to our Association Office using their own stamp. Postman Pat would have been proud, and busy!

Second, we harvested what campaigners love most. Bonus prizes. Nearly two dozen residents requested information about Party membership, including one person interested in becoming a Conservative councillor and another keen to return as a branch chairman. We also recruited over a dozen new leaflet deliverers, the same number of social media supporters, and even gained several requests for postal votes.

What activists can learn

The lessons are clear.

– Knock, drop and collect works, but always include a QR code and return address for those not in

– Always include tick box options for membership, volunteering, or helping online.

– A strong local issue like ‘Save the Post Office’ dramatically increases engagement as it is relevant and emotive

– Check Campaign Toolkit for ready to use campaign materials

– Do not neglect areas you once assumed were ’true blue’ – in fact concentrate on them during ‘peacetime campaigning’ to shore up the core vote, lay the foundations and stop any bleed to rival parties

– Do not listen to local Fib Dems who will start whining, moaning and calling you liars the moment you start campaigning

A quiet but significant victory

Nationally, 180,000 people signed the Party’s petition to protect our post offices. In our corner of North East Hertfordshire we played our part.

On 22nd February Labour quietly performed another U turn. It barely made page eight of the Daily Mail, but for Dane End, Walkern, Watton-at-Stone and Weston it was big news.

The newspapers attributed the reversal to ‘public pressure’. In truth, it was Conservative pressure. A policy U turn, voter data gathered, new members recruited, and new volunteers signed up. Job done. For a moment the North East Herts team almost felt disappointed when the news arrived that the post offices were safe, because we were already preparing to campaign in a fifth village.

Not for long though. We are out saving the local pubs now!

And if Mrs Goggins had been watching from behind the counter of Greendale Post Office, I suspect she would have approved. Even Postman Pat would struggle to deliver that many campaign surveys!